Storyline

Margaret attends a church group for the bereaved,where she befriends Glynis,also recently widowed. Whilst visiting Glynis for drinks,Margaret stumbles upon press-cuttings of Victor's death and learns to her horror that her friend,drunk and reckless after her recent sad loss,is in fact the driver who killed Victor. He must be avenged. Written by
don @ minifie-1

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Trivia

During his cameo near the end of the episode, cinematographer Geoff Harrison gets to be the only person in the series to utter the f-word on camera, as he can be seen saying "oh, fucking hell!" when Victor walks into the shot, although the dialogue is muted during the scene. See more »

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User Reviews

After six excellent seasons, 'One Foot In The Grave' finally bowed out in 2000. David Renwick could have kept it running, but wisely quit while he was ahead.

It opens with Margaret, now a widow, speaking into a phone made to look like a big slipper, a piece of tat Victor brought home one day from the junk shop. Court action is threatened after an incident in which Victor threw a hypodermic syringe at the bare bottom of a boy racer. She points out that her husband has been dead five months. He was run over outside a pub whilst returning from an army reunion in which no-one but him turned up. An artist ( Jonathan Cecil ) arrives to collect payment for a portrait in oils of her and Victor. She refuses to pay as Victor looks more like the actor Alistair Sim. The story of Victor's death is told in flashback. Right the way through we see the aftermaths of various incidents, such as Victor being caught in a fake snow storm outside his house during the filming of a Christmas commercial. It is only at the end do we get to see these incidents in all their glory, accompanied by an upbeat number - 'Its Alright!' - from 'The Travelling Wilburys'.

The hit and run driver turns out to be Glynis ( Hannah Gordon ), one of Margaret's close friends. It is implied that Margaret takes revenge by putting too much paracetamol in the woman's orange juice.

Paul Merton makes a cameo as the moustached 'barman'. It would have been easy for Renwick to have closed the show with Victor's death, and the end credits rolling in silence. But even with a story as tragic as this, he finds humour. It really is British comedy at its best.

Such was the impact of 'Grave' that the spot where Victor died was strewn with floral tributes and messages of sympathy within hours of the episode's transmission. Not bad for a fictional comedy character. How mean-spirited then of I.T.V. to spoil the finale by deliberately trailing in advance Judith 'Egghead' Keppel's win on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', ensuring a ratings advantage. No matter; 'One Foot In The Grave' will be remembered long after Chris Tarrant's shabby greed fest is forgotten.

Funniest moment - Victor coming home to find strangers worshipping a tapestry of the Virgin Mary in his lounge. Margaret's advert in the local newspaper described it as having two small tears ( meaning damage ), but this got mistaken by religious fanatics for 'tears' ( as in crying ), hence the transformation of the Meldrew home into another Lourdes.

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